Archive for September, 2007



Google to invest $10 million in green startups

Google will be investing $10 million in green startups, the company writes on its Google.org blog today. The company is specifically looking to invest in companies in the “green” transportation industry (e.g. hybrid, electric cars).

Today, Google.org has issued a request for investment proposals (RFP) to the tune of $10 million in order to advance sustainable transportation solutions. We are inviting entrepreneurs and companies to show us their best ideas on how they can contribute to this important cause. We need catalytic investments to support technologies, products and services that are critical to accelerating plug-in vehicle commercialization. That is why we have structured this RFP to offer investment dollars to for-profit companies to promote social and environmental change. The severity of global warming requires solutions from NGOs, governments, individuals and (very importantly) the private sector. We have already made $1 million in grants to a group of outstanding non-profit organizations, and want to expand our impact by spurring innovation in the private sector. While $10 million is a fraction of the total investment needed to transform our transportation sector, we hope this RFP will help catalyze a broader response. We need the automakers to bring these cars to market, but plug-in vehicles also need an entire ecosystem of companies to flourish.

Quoted: L. L. Henderson

“Fathers send their sons to college either because they went to college or because they didn’t.” - L. L. Henderson

Top 50 Movies: #43

#43 What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

Director: Lasse Hallström
Actors: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, John C. Reilly

Lyrics #5

The Eagles
Hotel California

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
‘This could be heaven or this could be hell.’
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say…

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year, you can find it here

Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes Benz
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the captain,
‘Please bring me my wine.’
He said, ‘We haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine.’
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say…

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They livin’ it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said ‘We are all just prisoners here, of our own device.’
And in the master’s chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
‘Relax,’ said the night man,
‘We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!’

Tiger Woods: $1 Billion Retirement Plan

No, that’s no mistake. Tiger Woods’ retirement plan will reach $1 billion by the time he turns 60.

If Woods keeps winning at his current rate, enjoys a nine percent annual return and captures just seven FedEx Cups in his career, he could reach $1 billion in retirement payouts courtesy of the PGA Tour Inc.

… if the PGA right this moment started handing Tiger a dollar bill every second of every minute of every day, it wouldn’t reach a billion until 2039.

Even without this retirement plan, Woods is well on his way to becoming the first American billionaire athlete. He might accumulate several billion. In 2006 Forbes reported he cleared $100 million in on- and off-course revenue.

But even if he found a way to spend every last penny of that fortune and his own personal retirement savings, he might have $1 billion coming to him after he turned 60 thanks solely to the contributions of the PGA. Golfers are independent contractors and not employees of the PGA. But the governing body, in lieu of a traditional pension, offers contributions based on a number of performance variables to a retirement fund that each player controls. 

VIA

iPod Touch, New iPod Nano, Cheaper iPhone

The new iPod Nano is both fat and thin, the iPod Touch is just an iPhone without the phone, and the iPhone with the phone is cheaper now. That’s what Apple announced yesterday, packed into one sentence.

Quoted: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

“I despise the pleasure of pleasing people that I despise.” - Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Spam, BTW

By the way, I know a guy who made millions sending emails to hundreds of thousands of people a day. His “company” sold everything from software to cards to other merchandise. They got him and he had to pay $X million USD to a large software corporation and went bankrupt in the end. But they’re making tons of money, these spam kings.

I hate Spam

I hate spam. So do you, I bet.

Spam Wall

Top 50 Movies: #44

#44 American Beauty (1999)

Director: Sam Mendes
Actors: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper




All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.

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